Ṣabāḥ dynasty

Ṣabāḥ dynasty, orĀl Ṣabāḥ (“Ṣabāḥ family”), Ruling family of Kuwait since 1756. In that year the Banū ʿUtūb, a group of families of the ʿAnizah tribe living in what is now Kuwait, appointed a member of the Ṣabāḥ family, Ṣabāḥ ibn Jābir (r. c. 1752–64), to be their ruler. The dynasty frequently depended politically or militarily on outsiders but maintained its autonomy. Its dependence on the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century was subsequently a cause for Iraq to claim hegemony over Kuwait. It later enjoyed the patronage of the United Kingdom and, more recently, the support of the U.S. Despite the existence of deliberative institutions in modern Kuwait, the dynasty retains absolute power.